Stop the use of counter-terrorism powers against pro-Palestine activists


Stop the use of counter-terrorism powers against pro-Palestine activists
The Issue
JULY 2025 UPDATE: The Filton 18 are now the Filton 23. Five more people were arrested by counter-terrorism police in July in connection with the same action against Elbit Systems in Bristol, and denied bail. The petition below has been updated.
Right now, 23 activists are being held in UK prisons on remand for damaging weapons intended for use in Gaza. They are being shockingly mistreated, in an outright abuse of draconian counter-terrorism powers. As their family and friends, we’re asking you to sign and share this petition today.
Action against Israeli weapons in the UK
The Filton 23 are charged with taking direct action in August this year to disable weapons at a facility belonging to Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, Elbit Systems, in Bristol. The weapons included drones currently being used in Gaza, which mimic the sounds of children in distress in order to draw civilians out to help, in order to kill them.
Six of the ten were arrested on site. Four were arrested in raids on their homes by counter-terrorism police - one of them at gunpoint. *In November there were ten further arrests, many of them violent, with doors and windows broken in night-time raids. Eight were charged.
Who is behind this chilling repression of activists? There is evidence of conversations between the Home Office, the CPS, the Israeli Embassy and Elbit Systems UK about stopping pro-Palestine activists which is deeply concerning.
Treated like ‘terrorists’
Why are our loved ones being treated like terrorists? Six of them are aged 20 - 30. All have strong social consciences - many do voluntary work to help vulnerable people in their communities. They couldn’t bear to see the scale of the suffering of innocent people in Gaza, especially children, and strongly oppose the genocide that Elbit Systems is profiting from, and that the UK government is complicit in.
Yet, in a flagrant abuse of counter-terrorism powers, the ten were held incommunicado in solitary confinement and interrogated constantly for a week without charge.
Despite only subsequently being charged with non-terror offences (including aggravated burglary and criminal damage) they have been held in prison on pre-trial remand since then, and are still being subjected to greater restrictions upon their rights and freedoms than those faced by regular prisoners, on spurious counter-terrorism grounds.
This has included being denied reading materials and the right to practice religion, intrusive medical testing, and restrictions on association with other prisoners and communication with the outside world.
One of the ten was designated an escape risk without due cause, so that they were subjected to additional ill-treatment, including being woken up every hour, all night, every night. This sleep deprivation is a clearly politically motivated form of psychological torture.
Please act now! Sign the petition
These abuses are being visited on activists opposing the genocide in Gaza now but, if left unopposed, it is a matter of time before they are extended to others as well. If we tolerate this, then our children will be next.
Please sign our petition to Shabana Mahmood, Secretary of State for Justice; Right Hon Lord Hermer KC, Attorney General; and Stephen Parkinson, Director of Public Prosecutions.
We are calling on them to:
- Stop the use of counter-terrorism procedures and powers against the Filton 23 with immediate effect
- Release all 23 on bail
- Fully disclose any political or foreign interference in policing and prosecution of the activists.
Petition Starter
We are the family and friends of the Filton 24. All 24 are in prison awaiting trial for alleged action against an Israeli-owned weapons firm in Filton, Bristol
Media enquiries56,999
The Issue
JULY 2025 UPDATE: The Filton 18 are now the Filton 23. Five more people were arrested by counter-terrorism police in July in connection with the same action against Elbit Systems in Bristol, and denied bail. The petition below has been updated.
Right now, 23 activists are being held in UK prisons on remand for damaging weapons intended for use in Gaza. They are being shockingly mistreated, in an outright abuse of draconian counter-terrorism powers. As their family and friends, we’re asking you to sign and share this petition today.
Action against Israeli weapons in the UK
The Filton 23 are charged with taking direct action in August this year to disable weapons at a facility belonging to Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, Elbit Systems, in Bristol. The weapons included drones currently being used in Gaza, which mimic the sounds of children in distress in order to draw civilians out to help, in order to kill them.
Six of the ten were arrested on site. Four were arrested in raids on their homes by counter-terrorism police - one of them at gunpoint. *In November there were ten further arrests, many of them violent, with doors and windows broken in night-time raids. Eight were charged.
Who is behind this chilling repression of activists? There is evidence of conversations between the Home Office, the CPS, the Israeli Embassy and Elbit Systems UK about stopping pro-Palestine activists which is deeply concerning.
Treated like ‘terrorists’
Why are our loved ones being treated like terrorists? Six of them are aged 20 - 30. All have strong social consciences - many do voluntary work to help vulnerable people in their communities. They couldn’t bear to see the scale of the suffering of innocent people in Gaza, especially children, and strongly oppose the genocide that Elbit Systems is profiting from, and that the UK government is complicit in.
Yet, in a flagrant abuse of counter-terrorism powers, the ten were held incommunicado in solitary confinement and interrogated constantly for a week without charge.
Despite only subsequently being charged with non-terror offences (including aggravated burglary and criminal damage) they have been held in prison on pre-trial remand since then, and are still being subjected to greater restrictions upon their rights and freedoms than those faced by regular prisoners, on spurious counter-terrorism grounds.
This has included being denied reading materials and the right to practice religion, intrusive medical testing, and restrictions on association with other prisoners and communication with the outside world.
One of the ten was designated an escape risk without due cause, so that they were subjected to additional ill-treatment, including being woken up every hour, all night, every night. This sleep deprivation is a clearly politically motivated form of psychological torture.
Please act now! Sign the petition
These abuses are being visited on activists opposing the genocide in Gaza now but, if left unopposed, it is a matter of time before they are extended to others as well. If we tolerate this, then our children will be next.
Please sign our petition to Shabana Mahmood, Secretary of State for Justice; Right Hon Lord Hermer KC, Attorney General; and Stephen Parkinson, Director of Public Prosecutions.
We are calling on them to:
- Stop the use of counter-terrorism procedures and powers against the Filton 23 with immediate effect
- Release all 23 on bail
- Fully disclose any political or foreign interference in policing and prosecution of the activists.
Petition Starter
We are the family and friends of the Filton 24. All 24 are in prison awaiting trial for alleged action against an Israeli-owned weapons firm in Filton, Bristol
Media enquiries56,999
Decision-Makers
- correspondence@attorneygeneral.gov.uk The Right Hon. Lord Richard Hermer KC, Attorney General
- cpsprivateoffice@cps.gov.uk Stephen Parkinson, Director of Public Prosecutions
- shabana.mahmood.mp@parliament.uk Secretary of State for Justice
Supporter Voices
Featured Comments
These people are not terrorists or wanting to comitt terrorist acts. They are protesting at arms factories who supply a county's military who are committing plausible genocide, ethnic cleansing g, war crimes, and aparthied. This should not be accepted by anyone.
Terrorism is not protest. Protest is not terrorism. The proposed Bill to conflate the two must not pass. Are we a democracy or are a dictatorship? If throwing red paint – a symbol for blood – is terrorism, what are the actions of F35 fighter planes, enabled by the UK government that fly over Gaza dropping bombs that cause real blood – not red paint...
The right to protest injustice is a fundamental right which needs protecting.
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Petition created on 14 October 2024